Congratulations to Tiphanie Yanique, Winner of the 2014 Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize

Tiphanie Yanique was awarded the 2014 Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize for her debut novel, Land of Love and Drowning (Riverhead Books). Last year's winner, Margaret Wrinkle, presented the award to her at our Annual Benefit and Awards Dinner on December 9 at The New York Athletic Club.

Chronicling three generations of an island family from 1916 to the 1970s, Land of Love and Drowning is a novel of love and magic, set against the political emergence of St. Thomas into an American territory. Wholly unique, with echoes of Toni Morrison, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and the author’s own Caribbean family history, the story is told in a language and rhythm that evokes an entire world and way of life and love.

Tiphanie Yanique is the author of the short story collection, How to Escape from a Leper Colony and the picture book I Am the Virgin Islands. Yanique has won numerous awards, among them the 2011 BOCAS Prize for Caribbean Fiction, Boston Review Prize in Fiction, and a Pushcart Prize. She has been listed by the National Book Foundation as one of the 5 Under 35. A native of St. Thomas, she is now an assistant professor in the MFA and Riggio Honors Programs at the New School in New York City. She and her family split their time between Brooklyn and St. Thomas.